A few new pictures

Did well at another Steamroller. Went 4-0 with a Garryth/Ravyn combo.
Actually played Garryth for 3 of the games so it wasn't all Snipe/Feat/Go.

Just wanted to update with a few new photos for the painting log.

First off, Dawnlord Vyros and Adeptis Rahn join the ranks as painted warcasters. Garryth and Ossyan are the last ones to get painted (someday...)

And I was able to finally get around to doing my custom Epic Eiryss. Figured this one I'd try doing work in progress shots of.

And finally we have a set of views around her for the finished/based model.

I'm not even sure what the painting log vs purchased is currently. I'll do the math later and figure out where I stand on the year's goal of painting more than I bought. I have a feeling I'm in the negatives again though.

Steamroller Report

Madison 6 Pack Event #4

50 Point Steamroller

May 19th, 2012

My lists:

Dawnlord Vyros
*Phoenix
*Banshee
Dawnguard Sentinels (full) +UA
Houseguard Halbediers (min) +UA
Mage Hunter Strike Force (min) +UA
Fane Knight
Arcanist
Arcanist
Mage Hunter Assassin

Reinforcements
Stormfall Archers
Stormfall Archers

Kaelyssa, Night's Whisper
*Phoenix
*Banshee
Dawnguard Sentinels (full) +UA +Souless Escort
Houseguard Halbediers (min) +UA
Stormfall Archers
Stormfall Archers
Aiyanna and Holt
Mage Hunter Assassin
Mage Hunter Assassin
Arcanist

Reinforcements
Mage Hunter Strike Force (min) +UA
Narn

In advance, my apologies for not remembering my opponent's lists 100%. I don't get to play against hordes too often so I don't remember what all the models are and what they do. I'm trying to list the majority of what was on the table and most of the high points of the games. It was a long day followed by a longish drive home and a few beers, so I'm guessing I'm getting at least a few things wrong in here. I'm also horrible with remembering people's names, so I'm not going to try and list who my opponents were and get the names wrong.

Also like to say again great game to each of my opponents. It was a fun day with congenial games all around. The Madison area events are worth the trip each time I come down.

ROUND 1: Vyros vs Kromac
Scenario: Control 8" circle on opponents side of board.
Opponent had Kromac and pKaya

Her list:
Kromac
*Warpwolf Stalker
*Pureblood Warpwolf
*Gnarlhorn Satyr (I think - the guy that can hop 5 inches?)
Shifting Stones +UA
Shifting Stones
Worldstalkers
Worldstalkers
Tharn Blood Trackers (full)
War Wolf
3 points of things I'm not remembering

Circle wins roll off and goes first. I decide to be lazy and keep the side of the table I'm already standing at.
She has a unit of shrimps on both sides of the table, stones left and right as well. Kromac and the Pureblood middle, Stalker right, Satyr to my left. I believe the dog was in the middle next to Kromac as well. I deployed Sentinels in the middle, Halbs to the left. Phoenix just to the right of my line, Banshee behind Halbs. Arcanist with each jack and Vyros behind the Sentinels. Fane Knight on my far right. She advance deploys Blood Trackers on my right, I counter with MHSF on the same side, Eiryss and the MHA on my left.

Normal start of turn 1 runs towards each other. The MHSF end up running to engage a couple of the Blood Trackers and they end up holding them up for a turn or two, Fane Knight does similar. By the end of that flank's fight, MHSF and Fane Knight are down, killed a few Blood Trackers. The Stalker gets up into my grill and does good damage to the Phoenix taking out an arm and movement. Arcanist heals 4 points on the Phoenix making him fully functional again, Phoenix gets a full load of focus and between those attacks and a few Sentinels the Stalker gets mulched. Shrimps and the Halbs duke it out on the other flank, Shrimps on the losing side due to def 13 and shield wall. Somewhere in here the Phoenix gets freed up to move right and combusts most of that flank away that I had been losing.

The Pureblood gets into the edge of both Halbs and Sentinels and kills a few, takes about 25% damage from something I did (can't remember what). Gnarlhorn is hanging back a bit by Kromac who has moved to my far left just in front of a building. Banshee moves up, boosts to hit and damage against Kromac, slams him into the building forcing him to transfer to the Pureblood and killing it. Kromac jumps out, lays into the Banshee taking out both arms, feats and cuts for 7 so that he has enough fury to finish off the Banshee and leave 1 or 2 for transfers. In response the Sentinels vengeance move 3 models into charge range of Kromac and 3 into the Gnarlhorn doing average damage. Sentinels then charge, killing the Gnarlhorn first so Kromac has nobody to transfer to. The 3 Sentinels against Kromac then miss their first 2 attacks, then the one that hits rolls a 20 on 4d6 to put this one away.

ROUND 2: Vyros vs pHexaris
Scenario: Reinforcements, Bunkers.
Opponent had pHexaris and pMorghoul

His list:
Hexaris
*Molik Karn
*Titan Gladiator
*Cyclops something (animus of giving out future sight)
*Basilisk of some type (I think)
Gatorman Posse (full)
Beast Handlers (min)
Nihilators (full) (I think - guys with reach and tough)
Tyrant Commander and Standard
Swamp Gobbers
Extoler Soulward (gives out eyeless sight?)
3 more points of something?

Reinforcements:
Farrow Slaughterhouses
2x Bloodrunner Master Tormentors (I think)

He wins roll to go first. I again take the lazy route staying on the side of the table I'm standing at. (table was mostly mirrored with a shallow water feature in the dead middle.)
He deploys his Beasts to my far right, his Nihilators mid/right, gobbers behind them. Beast Handlers behind the Beasts, Commander and Stickboy behind Nihilators, Extoler and Hexaris behind Beasts as well. Gatormen are as far left in his zone as he can get them. I deploy Halbs left, Sentinels middle, Phoenix and Arcanist behind Halbs, Fane Knight to the left of Phoenix. Banshee and Vyros as far right as I can get, Vyros behind Sentinels. MHSF as far up/right as I can, Eiryss to their left (pretty middle of table) and I honestly forget what I did with my Assassin.

Turn 1 normal running forward. I get a few shots at the Nihilators with Eiryss to get rid of their Death March then drop 1 or 2 and knock down another with the Strike Force. They get back up and we end up having a big jam fest of MHSF, Nihilators and a few Sentinels fighting in the water feature the length of the game. On my far left flank the Gatormen are heading to his zone, the Fane Knight and Halbs do a decent job of jamming the Slaughterhouses up but it's a losing fight on that side for the elves.

Biggest notes from this game though, Turn 2 he eyeless sighted Hexaris, had Molik Karn self animus and then move up so he could arc spells through Molik taking out both Eiryss and I believe my Assassin before moving back to the back edge of my zone. I respond by Knocking down Molik with the Banshee at just shy of max range (rolling to hit 3 times as he kept making me reroll, good thing I boosted) and then killing him with brutal shots from the 8 Stormfall Archers that just came in on my flank. He moves a few things up to try and jam a little, toes his Gladiator into the zone to keep me from scoring. He however left Hexaris with only 1 fury left. Vyros responds by giving 2 to each of his Jacks, casting mobility, then charges the 1 Nihilator that was engaging the Banshee and kills it. (As a side note, this will be the 1 and only model that any of my casters directly killed during the course of the tourney.) The Banshee moves up and thanks to Bird's Eye plugs a boosted shot into Hexaris slamming him back 3 inches. Fane Knight frees the Phoenix up so he only has to take 1 free strike to get in range of Hexaris (taking just damage to his shield) and Hexaris transfers the good damage from a boosted pow 14 so he's left naked. My 2 units of Stormfalls then proceed to clear the 1 or 2 infantry they needed to give the rest of them sight to the knocked down Hexaris. Only one was in Brutal Shot range, plugged him for 9 and dropping him to 1. Three more Archers were in Snipe shot range, only 1 more was needed.

At this point there are 6 players at 2-0. Three of us are Retribution. I sense a mirror match coming up soon. 

ROUND 3: Kaelyssa vs Rahn
Scenario: Sacrafice
Opponent had Ossyan and Rahn

His list:
Adeptis Rahn
*Phoenix
*Phoenix
*Sylas
Dawnguard Sentinels (full) +UA +Souless
Battle Mages +Souless
Battle Mages +Souless
Fane Knight
eEiryss
Arcanist
Arcanist

We both look at each others lists and try to figure out how the flying monkey love this is going to play out. I've never played against Ret as nobody else plays them at my FLGS. The more I thought about it, Kaelyssa had the better option with her feat against Ossyan and her anti magic tricks should help vs Rahn. After the game, we both sort of agreed that it looks like Kaelyssa might be the caster of choice for the mirror match as army wide stealth and no charges is quite harsh against an army with minimal ways to mitigate stealth other than charging into melee. (Well, Kaelyssa with Sentinels, Halbs and Mittens so that random Stormfall shots don't kill with the scatters)

He won the roll off but the table was mirrored so the option to stay lazy was again taken. The flag for sacrafice is on my right, control zone on my left. He had Sentinels centered, somewhat to the left. A Phoenix, an Arcanist and Mittens to both sides. Eiryss and Rahn middle, Fane Knight to the far right. I put Halbs and Banshee right with both Assassins, Sentinels mid/left. Stormfalls behind Sentinels and Halbs. Phoenix next to Sentinels on their left. Kae and A&H middleish. (there was a large long forest running between us in the dead middle of board - pretty much split the 2 sides into 2 seperate battles.

Sentinels both run up towards each other neither side wanting to activate vengeance first. My left Stormfalls light 5 guys on fire with star shots (4 Sentinels and their Souless) but 3 of them have the fire go out right away on his turn. On my right he moved up his Phoenix on that side to take a pot shot at my Halbs killing 1 of them. Sadly, this just put him in range of all of the Halbs. Banshee knocks down the Phoenix and then the Halbs mini-feat and charge in. All get attacks due to ranked attacks, and with 6 auto hitting boosted pow 14's the Phoenix on that flank is no more. Between the Banshee and Assassins on that flank most of it gets mopped up by the end of the game. (Fane Knight decapitated twice, all but 1 Halb dead, 1 or 2 mittens left on his side over there)

On the left side he gets a Force Blast off on his Phoenix pushing my Sentinels somewhat into a grouping and is able to combust 4 of them away. Giving me the first vengeance activation lets me drop his Phoenix and a few Sentinels, Holt takes another 2 Sentinels, Stormfalls take the rest except for his banner. My Stormfalls on the left and his Mittens end up mixing it up, the archers suprisingly taking 2 of the Mittens down with them. In the end The Phoenix is able to combust the Mittens in the zone off, Sentinels take the leading edge of the zone killing his banner to give me control and the Arcanist steps up to take the first sacrafice point. He gets a few more things into the zone to try and slow me down but it's pretty much over. I kill a few more models for tiebreakers (my 2nd unit of Stormfalls had actually ran over towards the left, managed to charge and kill the last Mitten who had downed the other Stormfall unit - sweet revenge!) and then Banshee walks to the flag for the final sacrifice point and game.

Coming into round 4 we now have 3 undefeateds. Ret, Ret and Khador. I get paired down so if I lose the event is over after the 4 rounds (and there were multiple people hoping for this).

ROUND 4: Vyros vs Harkevich
Scenario: Guidons
Opponent had pButcher and Harkevich

His list
Harkevich
*Behemoth
*Black Ivan
*Sylas
Gun Carraige
Great Bears
Kayazi Assassins (full) +UA
Alten Ashley
Koldrun Lord
Orin Midwinter

I believe I again lost the roll off for going first. He had his Gun Carraige on my right, Behemoth and Ivan mid with Harkevich. Kayazi to my left with Alten even further left. Great Bears between the Jacks and the Carraige. Koldrun and Orin behind and between the Kayazi and Jacks. I had MHSF and Assassin on my right, Sentinels mid and Halbs left. Vyros behind the Sentinels. Banshee to the right of the infantry line, Phoenix behind the Halbs. Fane Knight was off on the far left flank.

This game went to time but it doesn't seem like either of us was doing much. There was a lot of thinking on both sides on order of operations. I believe he used his time extension, I did not. (I actually think I only used my extension once all event, and that was during Round 3.)

Right side ended up having the Gun Carriage move up and take out a few of the Strike Force. Strike Force jammed the Great Bears up a turn or so. Great Bears made 4 of their first 5 tough rolls. Assassin dueled with the Gun Carraige knocking it down to 2 boxes left from a charge and the freestrike as it left to do more to the Strike Force. The Carraige eventually knocked the Assassin down to 3 boxes left.

The Kayazi mini feated and mixed it up with the Halbs and edge of the Sentinels killing a decent most of the Halbs and a Sentinel or two. After they killed some of the Halbs the Phoenix was able to Hallowed Avenger charge up to the side of them and kill himself an opening to their juicy center. Vengeance killed 1 or 2 Kayazi, Phoenix walks up to combust in the middle of them killing all but 1 grunt and the underboss toughed it. Sentinels clean it up and I get a control point as Vyros moves the guidon into the left zone I'm holding on turn 3. Fane Knight stupidly goes on a wild goose chase after Alten, both become worthless for the rest of the game. Behemoth charges and scraps the Phoenix, puts 13 damage on my guidon with his bombards. Sentinels manage to take the right arm and leave the big guy on 16 boxes left. (Column 2 had taken 2, columns 3 and 4 undamaged)

I spend the next 2 minutes doing the math on this - is it worth charging Vyros in to try and help against Behemoth while during Harkevich's feat turn? Apparently some people thought I might have been stalling, but this is a serious question. I'd be dice minus 10 to do damage, and I could have 4 attacks with boosted damage (charge, buy 3 and boost 3). 3d6 at -10 averages out to 1.46 damage per swing. (I have a full damage chart for 2d6, 3d6 and 4d6, pow 9-18, arm 16-28 for weighted averages that I consult) Depending on how that fell, 2 hits could disable his 2nd arm which would mean Vyros would be mostly safe from swings back. 2 or 3 good hits to the 3 and 4 colums could take out the sub cortex and save my guidon from being shot to kingdom come. But unless my dice rolled proper averages (when does that happen) I didn't know if it was worth risking it as I was up 1 control point and he hadn't even moved his guidon once yet. I passed the turn with almost a full 2 minutes on my clock for the round.

Behemoth killed off my Commander for the Sentinels and shot the Guidon to death so no more control points for me unless I could control his guidon or get both zones. I was close to getting his zone if my Assassin could finish off the last 2 health on the gun carriage, but dealing with Behemoth would be tough. I did still have 6 sentinels surrounding him though, a fully loaded Vyros and decent odds with Harkevich's feat gone. However dice down was called and I win it 1-0 on control points. As a sidenote, even with Harkevich camping out near his own guidon, he never moved it the entire. My opponent checked after the game and it would have taken him a minimum of 2 turns more to move his guidon into the scoring zone, so even if my Vyros decision was faster, there's no way we would have gotten the 2 turns it would have taken him to tie that up with.

So the event goes to round 5. This is turning out to be a long day now. Oh, and you remember how I wasn't a fan of playing the mirror match back in round 3? Guess who won in the Ret vs Khador game of undefeateds?  

ROUND 5: Kaelyssa vs Kaelyssa
Scenario: 3 flags, one dissapears.
Oppenent had Kaelyssa and... somebody else? Maybe Ossyan? (memory is failing here)

His list:
Kaelyssa
*Banshee
*Banshee
*Sylas
Arcantrik Force Generator
Battle Mages
Fane Knight
Scyir x2
Aracnist x2
Artificer x2
Narn

For once I win the roll off and go first. Thinking about it now, I probably should have gone 2nd with how the defensive feats work and to have first chance at scoring, but oh well.

I deployed Banshee and a Stormfall unit right, Sentinels mid, Halbs left. Phoenix behind Halbs. Assassins were both on my right, Aiyanna, Holt and Kae in the middle behind Sentinels. My second unit of Stormfalls was on my left. He gad his Sspace Cricket on my right, then everything else was pretty clustered together other than his Mittens on my left. The Artificers were spaced so that his entire army could move up and stay immune to blast damage.

Turn 1's we both run towards each other. No big suprises. Flag on my left is removed at end of turn 1. I'm happy with that as my forces are more towards mid and right anyways. My turn 2 I move up the Stormfalls on that side behind a wall and hit the cricket with 4 brutal shots. 3 of them hit (about the odds) and do about 13 damage to it. One of the assassins is JUST in range to clip it in threat range, finishes it off. Opponent is amazed at the crazy good dice on this. I agree it's good but not that crazy. 3 out of 4 hits needing 7's is reasonable and pow 12 +3d6 vs arm 20 averages 2.82 damage per attack. That's 8.46 damage when I had 4.54 higher than that. That's 1.5 per roll or 0.5 per die higher than "average". However, pow 9 vs arm 20 with 3d6? That I'll give you. That averages at 0.96 damage or 1.92 after decapitation. Rolling 3 higher than average is definately on the slender side of the bell curve.

With the giant Space Cricket of Doom down, we all just sort of muddled everything up in the middle. My Archers didn't do a thing for the rest of the game offensively, his Mittens didn't really do anything either. I feat on turn 2, he does the same. However with him keeping Phantom Seeker on his Kaelyssa (mine is on my Banshee) he's able to go for the caster vs caster assasination. On the 3 shots he takes, he misses 2 of them. He then jams his Fane Knight, one of his Scyirs and a Banshee in front of Kaelyssa. Due to not reading the scenario close enough, instead of scoring a point on the right flag at the end of his turn, I get nothing. I have an Assassin within 4" of it, but not base to base. Sigh. I do score at the end of my turn with it though.

I end up taking (between normal and vengeance attacks) 12 attacks at the Fane Knight before I knock him off his horse. (You'd think 6 to hit would be an easier roll?) I do manage to have an Assassin walk behind his lines to catch Kaelyssa in the 4" reach and rolled a 10 to hit, plugged her for 10 damage. Phantom Seeking Banshee was just out of 5" to see her while stealthed. His turn he plugs away at my Kaelyssa again with his own, rolls under average on all his damage rolls to drop her to 2 boxes left, can't get anymore. Last ditch effort is an Arcantrik Bolt with his last 2 focus needing a 9 to hit and it misses. Banshee has his Phantom Hunter upkept, gets 2 focus. Stand still to aim, boost to hit, slam Kaelyssa back into an Artificer and boost damage for a 4d6 straight dice damage to take her out. (Tried coming up with an overkill joke here, but I'm still too worn out to think well.)


After tourney thoughts:

I'm rather happy I decided 2 days before the event to switch from Discordia to Banshee for the Vyros list. The 19 armor was enough on the Sentinels to make them effectively immune to every blast weapon that hit them, and it was high enough that they didn't take much straight damage either. There were a few places having the spray would have been nice, but not really needed. Vyros never got a chance to put axe to face on anybody other than a single poor Skorne soldier, but in the end I don't think he minded.

Also, the games where I beat the other two Ret players were the only games they lost, so the Angry Elves took 1st, 2nd and 3rd overall. It's nice to see some Elven domination for once.

TRIVIA!!!! And some pictures

First off, the newest addition to the Angry Elf Warcaster list, we have Kaelyssa, the Night's Whisper.

 And how could an army show it's face around the tourney scene without having a proper ride? To give the models a little nicer presentation in the case down at Galaxy Games Comics and More, and to carry them around at events, I bring you the Retribution Display Board:

Currently I have my Banshee and Dawnlord Vyros on the painting table, and my unit of Houseguard Halberds on deck. So hopefully more updates to come soon on painting.

Which brings us up to this weekend. 5:50pm on Friday will find me huddled in a small basement bar with about twenty friends all with a shot of Kessler blended whiskey in our hands. Dustin will give a speech that he probably thought about for about 5 minutes. Some will listen to what he's saying, but we all actually hear the same thing every year. Welcome back home. It's Trivia time.

For the 10th year in a row friends and family gather for our annual reunion in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Old college roommates, newer friends, even some children that have been growing up with Trivia each year. All gathered for 54 hours straight of questions, music clues, home cooked food and good times. For me, one of the best weekends of the year.

And... who doesn't want to come eat when the Angry Elf Kitchen is making meat logs? Just watch out for the Spicy Log. Trying out some new dried peppers that I really just don't know how how they are.

-----------
Yearly Painting Status:

Manticore (Painted)
Kaelyssa (Painted)
Display Board (Custom Build) (Painted)
Skaven Plague Monks (Purchased) (Not Painted)
Dawnlord Vyros (Purchased) (Painting in progress)
Banshee (Purchased) (Painting in progress)
Houseguard Halbs (Purchased) (Not Painted)
Souless Escort (Purchased) (Not Painted)

Pictures

Finally getting around to posting some pictures of painted figures. I still need to finish some of the clear coat layers. Most of the blue armor is going to end up somewhat glossy when I'm done, and I also have to work on my post processing skills. This should at least be a start though for us. I'm pretty sure if you click on the picture it should give you a little bit larger of a resolution.

Ravyn, The Eternal Light

Discordia:

Phoenix

Manticore

 Dawnguard Sentinels

  Dawnguard Invictors with Leader

 

Stormfall Archers

 

House Shyeel Artificer

 

Mage Hunter Assassins

And for some group shots, the full battle group

And the entire current army (on the work in progress display board)

And with the Manticore now finished, that gives my my first completed project of the year. Puts my painting score up by 6, and I'm giving myself another 1 for finishing the basing on all of these models and adding the freehand flames to my Phoenix.

Painted: 7, Purchased: 8

 

50 Points pSorcha vs Ravyn (and a meatlog)

Playtesting for the Madison 6 Pack Event #2, a friend and I decided to try out 2 lists we are both thinking of. In an attempt to try different battle report formats out, this time we have photos at the end of each turn. First, the lists.

Kommander Sorcha
*Behemoth
*Spriggan
*Sylass Wyshnylyrr, the seeker
Battle Mechanics (min)
Kayazi Assassins (min) + Underboss
Man-o-War Demo Corps (max)
Widowmakers
Man-o-War Drakhun (with dismount)
Manhunter

(this only adds up to 49 points, so I'm guessing I'm missing something, but it gives the general idea)

Ravyn, Eternal Light
*Discordia
*Phoenix
Mage Hunter Strike Force (full) + Commander
Stormfall Archers
Stormfall Archers
Arcanist
Arcanist
eEiryss
Fane Knight Skeryth Issyen
Lady Aiyana and Master Holt

The Mission: Control the black rectangular zone on the opponent's side of the table. On turn 2 or later we can bring in reinforcements off the side of the table. (Sadly as you will see, we didn't get to reinforce anything) Khador won the roll off and elected to go second. The deployment:

TURN 1
Ravyn allocates 2 to Discordia, 1 to Phoenix. Most of the army runs straight up field. Exceptions include Ravyn casting Snipe on the MHSF, the MHSF walking up to the wall to shoot at the Widowmakers (half an inch out of range) and Discordia activating her imprint before running up to the MHSF to shield them from possible bombard shots.

Sorcha gives 3 to the Behemoth (2 to sub cortex), 1 to the Spriggan. Most of the army runs forward up field. Notable exception is the Behemoth who tramples up and towards the near (to camera) hill where Eiryss and the Mage Hunter Assasin are waiting. Two bombard shots and two boosted damage rolls later both of the stealthed elves are dead.

TURN 2
Looking at the table for a minute to make sure Ravyn wasn't seeing things, she eventually allocates no focus but upkeeps Snipe. Ravyn activates, feats, and walks forward to right behind the Stormfall Archers. Mage Hunter Strike Force all walk up to be within range of Sorcha. Need 10's to hit on 3d6. First hits for 6 damage, second for 2, third for 3, fourth for 5. Oops. Looks like Sorcha died 12 minutes into the game.

Ok, so that was anticlimactic. He wanted to know how pSorcha would work out. I showed him she's a bit too fragile for his playstyle. His second list will most likely be pButcher now.

I'm pretty happy with the list above as my first list (with reinforcements being Sentinels (min) +UA and a second Mage Hunter Assassin), I just have to work out the details of my 2nd list. I'm looking at something with a few more numbers to it, but I'm not sure if I can keep my turns fast enough with it. Currently pondering the following:

Kaelyssa
*Phoenix
*Manticore
Dawngaurd Invictors (full)
Dawngaurd Sentinels (full) + Commander
Stormfall Archers
Stormfall Archers
Mage Hunter Assassin
Mage Hunter Assassin
pEiryss
Arcanist
Reinforcements: Mage Hunter Strike Force (full) + Commander

Well, I have 11 days left to decide. Event is on the 10th, hopefully I'll have pictures and reports from the event when it's done. And as the battle report was so short this time we have a bonus cooking addendum.

The Infamous Meatlog.

Take a pound of thick cut bacon and weave it like so.

Season it with what spices you like, then spread a pound of sausage over it like so:

Again, season to taste. Now add whatever fillings you like in your meat log. This time I tried Asparagus and Swiss:

And then roll up the sausage with the fillings inside of it:

Roll the sausage log up in the bacon so we have a beautiful log of meat. Put in a baking pan on a rack so that it won't cook in its own drippings:

Baked at 250 for 2 hours and then 300 for 30 minutes to crisp the outside more:

Slice it up and enjoy for dinner. Sadly in an effort to make this one slightly healthier I used turkey sausage instead of pork. BIG MISTAKE. Texture isn't right, it's too dry and crumbly inside, and the flavor isn't quite there either. This thing needs the full pork treatment. Oh well. A bad meatlog is still better than most meals.

50 Points eSkarre vs Kaelyssa

Scenario: Grind (There are 2 flags in the middle of the field, one left, one right. They are throwable, slamable, and killable. If you kill one, it moves d3+3 inches in a direction you pick, counting as a slam. Knock it into the control zone on the opponent's side of the field to score points. Or you know, kill their Warcaster.)

This week's opponent is well aware of the shenanigans the elves can pull off, and is trying out a new list at 50 points. After the game I found out the part he's questioning is the Wraith Engine. I agree, it probably could be replaced for more effective use of the points. I'm trying out my first 50 point Kae list to see if a) I can effectively run 3 heavy Myrmidons at the same time, and b) if I can play with no Mage Hunter Strike Force effectively.

Skarre, Queen of the Broken Coast

*Skarlock Thrall

*Death Jack

*Defiler

*Seether

Satyxis Raiders Full +UA

Satyxis Captain

Withershadow Combine

Warwitch Siren

Wraith Engine

vs

Kaelyssa, Night's Whisper

*Phoenix

*Manticore

*Banshee

Dawngaurd Invictors Full +UA

Dawngaurd Sentinels Full +UA

Mage Hunter Assassin

Mage Hunter Assassin

Arcanist

Arcanist

Cryx wins the roll off, sets up first. In an attempt to make these battle reports easier to follow I'm trying out Battle Chronicler software. Main three problems for this trial - I couldn't figure out how to get the scoring zones and flags to show up on the map, my scale is horrendously off, and for some reason how to figure the facing of models is eluding me. Hopefully I will improve this system as I use it more.

Deployment:

Turn 1

Skarre camps all her focus. Wraith goes incorperal and then runs up towards the right flag. Siren gives a focus to the Defiler which then runs straight up field. Death Jack walks up, Death Wards itself, which will be upkept for the entire game for free by the WSC. Scarlock moves up, casts Admonition on the Defiler. The Raiders run straight forward past the wall, with the Captain hiding behind the wall. Seether moves up next to the Death Jack, the WSC runs up behind the Seether, Skarre just moves up behind everything and camps focus.

Kae allocates 1 to the Phoenix. Sentinels run up and to the right behind the wall, MHA's both move up and to the right edge of the board facing the Wraith Engine. Invictors run right, now in middle of the field and a few inches forward. Banshee moves up behind Sentinels, Manticore advances to left of Invictors and lays a Covering fire 12 inches towards the Raiders. Phoenix moves behind the building. Arcansists move behind the Banshee and Manticore. Kae moves to the right and a little forward, casts banishing ward on Invictors, Phantom Seeker on the Banshee.

Turn 2

(Not positive on any allocation) Siren moves up to give a focus to the Defiler again which then runs up almost to the wall and Sentinels. Wraith Engine charges the right Flag dealing 13 damage to it. Scarloc moves up and casts Blood Rain on the Flag for 1 damage. Raiders swarm around the left Flag, attacks cause 2 damage total. Captain also tries to hit the flag, dealing no damage. Seether charges left Flag killing it and sending it 6 inches towards the Retribution's scoring zone. Death Jack moves up, Perditions the right Flag dealing 3. Moves the Flag 4 inches towards the MHAs and the Seether moves forward an inch from the Perdition bonus effect. WSC moves up between the Death Jack and the Raiders. Skarre moves up behind the Death Jack, casts Blood Rain on the Sentinels through the Defiler hitting 5 but not killing any (all 5 now have corrosion effect). Then Skarre casts Blood Rain again on same unit, missing, but the scatter just puts it over 2 already corroded and fails to do enough damage to kill either.

Corrosion falls off 1 of the 5 Sentinels, the other 4 die. Allocates 2 to the Phoenix, 2 to the Banshee and upkept the Banishing Ward. Both MHAs charge the Wraith Engine with it just inside of their max threat range. First deals 14 damage while the second one hits but fails to roll over 9 on 4 dice to do damage. Sentinels walk up, some in front of wall now, deal 17 damage to Defiler. Banshee walks up and shoots the Wraith Engine with boosting to hit and damage which does enough to kill it. Invictors pop their mini feat and move up then do two combine ranged attacks. Five target the Death Jack, roll boxcars on damage to deal 8 to column 4, five target Seether and roll well again to deal 8 to column 6. Phoenix walks up around the building, boosts to hit and damage the Seether dealing 5 to column 6. Manticore again covering fires 12 inches up towards the Raiders and to the side of the left Flag. Kae moves up behind the Invictors and uses her feat, covers the entire army.

Turn 3

2 allocated to Seether. Siren moves over and sprays both MHAs killing 1 and missing the other. Skarloc tries to cast Perdition on the second MHA and misses by 1. WSC move up and disbind the Banishing Ward (honestly not sure if it works this way, but eh...) and deals 3 via the backlash to Kae. Another member of the WSC then uses their force blast like ability to kill an Invictor (just inside of 5 inches) and the last one Puppet Master's the Death Jack. Death Jack moves up, casts Perdition on the right Flag hitting but dealing no damage. Skarre moves up and casts Blood Rain on the Invictors putting corrosion on 2, casts Admonition on herself, then pops her feat protecting herself, Death Jack, and the Seether from being targeted with attacks, and causing the Phoenix and Kae to be unable to attack anything. Seether walks into the covering fire and takes 4 damage from it before throwing the left flag into the Phoenix dealing 2 damage to shields and knocking the Phoenix down. This impact cracks the flag to 0 health again, moves it 6 inches to the right in front of the invictors. Captain speeds up the Raiders who mini feat and charge the Phoenix. They do a total of 22 damage crippling both arms and 4 damage hits Kae from feedback blasts.

Kae allocates 1 each to all 3 Myrmidons. Arcanist moves up to the Phoenix repairing it for 1 fixing the right arm. Phoenix then activates regenerating 6 points from the Phoenix field and 1 point by standard field regen for the focus. Then moves to just within range of the left flag and staying within range of all but 1 Raider which fails to deal damage with its free strike. Invictors charge, 1 killing a WSC member, 1 killing a Raider near the Phoenix, deals 14 to the left Flag with boosted damage from Flank Faction Warjack. The movement during that charge activates Admonition on Skarre who moves around the back of the Death Jack to the right side. Manticore moves up and two handed throws the left Flag to the right but it scatters right into the Death Jack dealing no damage to the Death Jack, but killing the Flag. This pops the flag another 5 inches to the right in between the Sentinels and Skarre. Some of the Sentinels stay still to deal with the Defiler, some move up to the flag. All miss against the Defiler, flag is killed and knocked into Skarre who can't be knocked down due to the Captain being in range. On dice minus 5 for the damage roll, the slam damage rolls snake eyes on Skarre. Banshee then walks up and shoots the flag slamming it again into Skarre and on dice minus 1 rolls a 3. MHA charges the damaged flag on Skarre hoping to knock it into her again and fails to deal any damage to it.

Turn 4

Seether is allocated 1 focus and the Death Jack gets 3 and Skarre keeps the other 3. Seether charges the Phoenix dealing 6 damage total and then smash and grab throws the Phoenix back into the Arcanist killing the elf and knocking down the Phoenix. Seether then buys another attack to kill an Invictor. Captain charges an Invictor, rolls exactly what she needs to kill it and then sprints back away. WSC move into combat with the Invictors killing 1 and missing 1. Siren sprays the MHA and misses. Scarloc then tries to Perdition the MHA in the back and rolls snake eyes. Skarre Perditions the Sentinels and then moves back away. Death Jack kills 1 Invictor and then burns all of its focus to exactly kill the Manticore. Defiler headbutts a Sentinel and rolls an 11 to be able to kill it. Raiders charge the Invictors and the Phoenix killing 1 Invictor and dealing 7 to the Phoenix, again disabling its right arm.

Banshee is allocated 2 in case Skarre will be within 12 inches after moving. Sentinels vengeance move around the Defiler and wreck it. 3 remaining Invictors manage to melee 1 Raider to death and combined ranged attack the Siren to kill it. Sentinels charge, 1 engaging the Skarlock (missing), 2 just outside of melee range of Skarre, and the standard standing with the one engaging the Skarlock to keep defensive line up. Banshee moves up, thinking Skarre is not in range shoots the Sentinel in line slamming it into Skarre. The Sentinel dies and Skarre is dropped to 1 health box left. Kae moves directly towards Death Jack intending to put feedback on him and then try a boosted arc bolt for the win, but is half an inch out of range to cast the feedback. In retrospect, the 8 inch range on the spell and 6 inch movement could have been checked by seeing if the Death Jack was within Kae's 14 inch control range, but that was my mistake to not check first. Just for spite, Phoenix gets back up, regens 2 points of shield from his Phoenix field then combusts killing 5 Raiders and the one Invictor near him.

Turn 5

Death Jack gets 2. A few random attacks that don't matter kill an Invictor, light the Invictor standard bearer and the Skarloc up with corrosion and the Sentinel commander is killed. The main attacks then are 2 Raiders killing the Arcanist trying to protect Kae, then Death Jack charges her, rolling box cars to hit, and eats her on the first damage roll.

In the end, I had my shots at his caster even during Skarre's feat turn where I couldn't target her directly. If one of two different rolls had been average she would have died from the Turn 4 Banshee slam. If I had been thinking at the end, Kae would have run like a mad elf woman for the trees to extend out the game another turn or two and see if the Banshee could line up another slam with one of the remaining Invictors (assuming Skarre also wasn't running like a mad pirate woman the other way).

Also, we have screenshot proof of another good game from League of Legends. I really like playing as Veigar, but Teemo might be a bit more up my alley:

As to painting and modeling, no changes. Picked up models that were already ordered and started assembling them. Once the game table is out of the way, I still hope to start painting again.

Flashback Comedy

One of my current projects at the apartment is to clean up the 2nd bedroom which is currently in use for storage. Once that room is cleaned up, I'll have a much more organized place, and more room to work on hobby projects. While cleaning, I have unearthed multiple old stacks of papers from High School. Reading some of these papers, I understand now I've always had this corny of a sense of humor, and if possible, when younger it was even worse. To share some of these discoveries of corniness, I bring you back to Winter of 1997-1998, and random things that after saying them just made us think... "what did we just say?"

Things Overheard in a Bike Shop

1. How big are these balls? Ball bearings come in different sizes.
2. I don't like the looks of these nipples. Nipples are the little pieces that hold spokes to the wheel.
3. Can you adjust my crank? The arms the pedals are attached to is called the crank.
4. You aren't supposed to be wearing underwear. With bike shorts.
5. Whack it harder. Using a hammer to get more leverage.
6. Is that screwed with the right hand or left? Right and left pedals are different threads.
7. Tight enough just to fit your finger underneath. Sizing bike shorts.
8. Provides exellent lubrication for all moving parts. Silicone spray lubricant.
9. Slowly, or it will blow off in your face. When inflating tires, don't put in too much air.
10. Wiggle it so it goes in further. Getting the valve through a rim while fixing a flat.
11. Well, did she give you a nice ride or what? Test riding bikes.
12. Do you want it in back or up front? Storage.
13. Don't get it on your shirt, it'll never come out. Synthetic grease.
14. Leave it for the head guy to play with. Sometimes the average mechanic can't cut it.
15. Mare sure the rubber's wide enough. Rubber rimstrips protect tubes from spokes.
16. It's hard to control when it's not straight. Handlebars.
17. Quick, I need a third hand! A tool used to tension cables.
18. I'll grab one side, you grab the other, pull on three... Technique to bend forks back into shape.
19. Here, feel how squishy this is. Handlebar grips.
20. How big of a rack do you want? To carry stuff on the back of the bike.
21. Does that come with batteries? Headlight and tail light set.
22. It automatically tells you how far you've gone. Bike computers.
23. Is that the big hole or the little hole? Schraeder and Presta (French valve) innertubes.
24. Ow! These teeth keep poking me! When you're too close to the rear sprocket, bad things happen.
25. How stiff do you want it? Shock fork adjustments.

35 Points Ravyn vs Scaverous

I played a game of Warmachine this Tuesday at the local game shop. Rolled up a random scenario... and got Kill Box, the most boring game. The objective: Kill the opposing warcaster, but your own warcaster has to stay at least 12 inches from the board edges or you lose. So no running away.

35 Point game, Kill Box.

The Enemy:

Scaverous

*Death Jack

*Erebus

*Malice

*Scarloc Thrall

Darragh Wrathe

Withershadow Combine

vs

The Angry Elves:

Ravyn

*Manticore

Sentinels plus UA

Mage Hunter Strike Force plus UA

Arianna and Master Holt

Fane Knight

Mage Hunter Assassin

Retribution won the roll and set up first:

Turn 1

Ravyn casts Snipe on MHSF, Vortex of Destruction on herself before moving up. Manticore moves up and drops a covering fire to maybe slow the Cryx advance. Arianna and Holt run to the Manticore, everybody else runs almost straight forward.

Malice and the Death Jack run to the right half of the board, Erebus takes the middle. Scarloc casts ghostly on Darragh who then runs behind Erebus. Scav nudges up a few inches. WSC moves up behind Death Jack.

Turn 2

Sentinels spread out between the walls. The walls get ruled as impassable as they are more than an inch tall. Joy. MHSF moves slightly towards center, unload on Erebus, do half his boxes in damage, no systems taken out. Ravyn nudges left, hot swaps snipe to Manticore who moves up and drops a covering fire on top of Death Jack 1 inch in front of WSC. Arcanist runs left to be behind Manticore, MHA and Fane Knight move up field slightly.

Malice moves up, out of range of shooting lead Sentinel. Scarloc Telekineses Death Jack up 2 inches. Scaverous Death Marks Death Jack and Telekineses Erebus 2 inches out of the covering fire. Death Jack charges the Sentinels, killing 2, then Icy Grips the Sentinels. Erebus charges and eats 1 Sentinel. WSC move up behind Malice.

Turn 3

Vengeance attacks from Sentinels take both arms and movement off of Erebus. Vortex upkeeped even though in hindsight it wasn't ever needed. Ravyn feats, fails to hurt DJ with a shot, casts Veil of Mists on the wall between Manticore and Death Jack so that the Manticore can walk over to melee later on. Arianna kisses Death Jack, Holt does 3 to Death Jack. MHSF deal 15 to Malice taking out the left arm and dealing 21 to Death Jack on good rolls. Manticore Power Boosts (forgot to power boost with arcanist beforehand) and proceeds to miss the Death Jack 3 times in melee. Sentinels activate and finish off both Erebus and the Death Jack. Fane Knight charges Darragh missing twice over the defended wall. MHA runs towards the middle of the backfield.

Scarloc Telekineses Malice up 2 inches, Malice charges Manticore dealing 21 disabling its cortex. Forces the Manticore to kill a Sentinel with Possession. (Only after the game did I realize the cortex is now gone, it can't be possessed anymore.) Darragh deals 3 points to the Fane Knight. Scaverous feats, Telekineses himself up 2 inches, Death Wards himself, Icy Chills the Sentinels, charges the Sentinels and Threshers killing 4 including the Officer. WSC move around the wall and deal 7 to the Manticore disabling the right arm.

Turn 4

Arianna kisses Scaverous, Master Holt shoots Scaverous for 2 damage. Remaining Sentinels walk up and deal an additional 7 to Scaverous. Mage Hunter Assassin charges Scaverous, rolls a 7 to barely hit, deals 26 damage for the overkill.

This was the first time this Cryx player has faced Retribution and was not aware of how effective against Warjacks they can be. I feel he charged Death Jack and Erebus in a little early, as at most he would kill only 4 while leaving the 2 heavies sitting right in front of 8 reach weaponmasters and a full Mage Hunter Strike Force with Jack Hunter. The high Cryx Defense did help a bit, with the POW 18 Manticore missing with 3 swings, but once their movement was taken out, it was just an easy mop up at that point.

As a side note. Had my first game of League of Legends against real people where I did not die once. I was rather happy with the game, even if it was against a bunch of noobs. For those who say screenshot or it didn't happen, here you go:

And finally, no painting done yet this past week. I did get some cleaning in the storage room done though, and once that room is cleaned up a bit, the game table is heading in there until I can finish it, which should free up space in the living room to get to the painting table. Until then, I bought a blister of melta guns for my Imperial Guard and ordered a blister of plasma guns... so 2 more points to the negative.

Painted: 0  Purchased: 8

Start of the new year

New Years Resolutions.

It's been quite awhile since I made one. I honestly can't even remember when the last was was, or what it was. But I read a rather good one on a hobby forum I frequent, and felt that I should make one like he is. The resolution was "to paint more models than I buy this year." As I seem to do the exact opposite of this almost every year, I felt it would be a good time to try changing. I will however make a slight change, I would like to make it instead "I will paint or sell more models than I buy this year" simply because I do have some models that I really doubt I'd ever get around to painting, and clearing them out of storage would be nice.

When I get something painted, I'll try to get an ok picture of it posted here to the blog. And I'll end each of my posts with a running tally of what I've painted and purchased so far this year. As I can't do a listing of points (100 points of fantasy is a bit different than 100 points of Warmachine) I have my own scoring system I plan on using to try and keep things even across the different game systems.

And as painting minis isn't my only hobby, I'll also be updating the blog (hopefully) with battle reports of games, pictures and reports of my homebrewing endeavors, and any other random thing I find to be hobbyish.

The worst part of this resolution is I'm already behind. I've already ordered a box of Skaven Plague Monks and haven't even managed to finish painting my current project - a Manticore Warjack. Sheesh. Well, let's see what happens.

Current Tally: Purchased: 6  Painted: 0